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Reprinted from the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Register, July, 1903 



SOME NEW FRANKLIN PAPERS 



A Report by J. G. Rosengarten, 52' C, to the Board of Trustees 



A rough calculation shows that there are over five hundred 
pieces of MS. among the collection of Franklin papers recently 
added to the Library of the University. The papers range from 
Franklin's own draught of an essay on the British plantations in 
America in 1731, down to his latest correspondence. He pre- 
served everything; frequently made characteristic endorsements 
of his replies to letters ; deciphered Robert Morris' key ; kept 
notices of scientific societies, and all formal papers ; made mar- 
ginal notes on the public documents sent to him, and of this kind 
there are more than twenty copies of Resolves of Congress and 
of Acts of Colonial Legislatures, and of the daily journals ot 
Congress ; broadsides of very great variety and interest, and 
pamphlets, many of them very curious — there are over a hundred 
pieces of this kind. 

There are some rare Quaker papers, e. g., David Lloyd's 
Complaint to Wm. Penn, in 1705, and a good deal of the contro- 
versial Quaker literature from that time down, and the pamphlets 
relating to the Quaker loyalists sent to Virginia. There is corre- 
spondence, both MS. and printed, on the right of the Proprietaries ; 
old newspapers and magazines ; a list of boys in the Charity School ; 
a medical thesis of 1782; there are maps of the Gulf Stream and 
Bunker Hill; Franklin's personal accounts of his household in 
Paris and with Congress, and letters of every great contemporary 
in his own handwriting, Washington, Lafayette, Wayne, Jeffer- 
son, Whitfield, Francis Hopkinson, Benjamin Rush, Anthony 
Wayne ; a whole history of John Paul Jones and his adventures 
with Landais and the other troubles that beset him; intercepted 
letters from Clinton to Lord George Germaine, and frequent re- 
ports on public matters from Thomas Digges, the information 
agent in London, and from Genet, in Paris, where he translated 
accounts of battles from the papers sent to him by Franklin. 

With Robert Morris and Robert R. Livingston there was 
frequent correspondence, both personal and official, and even 
Franklin's patience was tried beyond silence, for on receipt of a 

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Resolve of Congress on the subject of expenditures by its min- 
isters abroad, he endorsed on it "Money, Money," as if that was 
the subject on all their minds, and a hard one to manage. 

From France, from Germany, from Italy, came letters asking 
advice; Robespierre, then a young lawyer in Arras, sends to 
Franklin his brief of a law case in which he supported the efficacy 
of the lightning rod, and asks for Franklin's opinion of its merit. 
Turgot corresponds with Franklin about smoke prevention, and 
others submit schemes on every imaginable subject, topics for 
literary and scientific discussion, ask for offices for themselves 
and their children, or inquire about friends and relatives who have 
gone to America, — he was apparently looked on as a living ency- 
clopedia. The University owes this collection to the efforts of 
Dr. Mitchell, and the best way of thanking him is to have it put 
in good order and made accessible to our own students and to 
all who are really interested in historical study. The Department 
of American History will no doubt second the Librarian in thus 
giving the use of this collection to those who can best appreciate it. 

I add an extract from a letter from the former owner, Mr. 
George O. Holbrooke, so as to give a better idea of the value and 
interest of this collection : 

"The manuscript Memorial of the State of the British Planta- 
tions shows that Franklin had thought over the possibility of a 
separation from England as early as 1731, but in the fevered 
times of 1749 he would not utter a word, even in Germany, that 
could be considered treasonable. There is not a single word in 
his writings about the internal difficulties of France, but the fact 
that he had a copy of Necker's Memorial in manuscript, before 
it was printed, shows that he had thought seriously of the subject. 
The family account of expenses at Passy, which describes 
minutely the small details of living, shows the hardship of the 
times, everything is dear but wages, which were pitifully low 
in proportion to everything else. Jonathan Williams' letters show 
the difficulties met with in carrying supplies a short distance on 
account of the feudal taxes, and thus give another glimpse of the 
restraint on life, and the eagerness of French and German officers 
for service in American brings it out anew. 

"The letter of Ingenhous, secretary of Catharine II.,* shows 
one of Franklin's means of influencing public opinion on the 
Continent. The request of the German Pastor Knoepfl for an 
American Lutheran Church brings out the friendly sentiment of 
German teachers and scholars for the second Fatherland. The 



♦ Physician to Maria Theresa 






letters of English friends show what a strong current of sympathy 
there was for the struggling colonies among thoughtful people. 
The intercepted letter from Sir Henry Clinton shows the warnings 
that the British government received from America. The letter 
from the Vicomte de Lomagne would furnish material for another 
book like Mr. Lowell's on "The Eve of the French Revolution." 
Anthony Wayne's letter is really historical. 

"The manuscripts show the intense care and re-corrections 
which Franklin bestowed on his English essays, so well exempli- 
fied in the drafts of his letters to Mme. de Forbach and others. 
Franklin grew up in the age of Addison, when style was a subject 
of careful thought, and a perfect essay a key to literary immor- 
tality. People had leisure in the days of minute newspapers. 
Mary Hewson's letters are delightful, and Franklin had the talent 
to bring out the best from every correspondent. Mrs. Stevenson's 
letter tells him all about her poor people in a way that shows that 
Franklin had always been her friend and practical helper in her 
kindnesses to others, and she shows her gratitude when an old 
woman, in the face of approaching death, she turns to him as her 
guide and consoler, the best man she had ever known. She had 
wintered and summered him in the Craven street days, and could 
not be deceived about his real character. When Franklin is 
decried as a worldly wise man, this ought to be thought of. 
He was a many-sided man, but his real self was benevolence and 
wisdom. His brief note added to her letter is touching. 

"There are some characteristic notes of his on the printed bill 
for the repeal of the Stamp Act, and there are interesting letters 
from Dr. Cooper and Dr. Stiles and Mrs. Bache and his other 
correspondents. Indeed what was written to him seemed to be 
inspired by his own straightforward love of truth and by his 
gift of telling it in brief, clear and pregnant pages." 

Two interesting letters are those from Robespierre and from 
Burke to Franklin. Franklin's answer to Burke is printed in Bige- 
low's Life of Franklin, Vol. H, p. 31, followed by Franklin's letter 
to President McKean on the subject, viz: Burgoyne's parole and 
the rumor that Congress intended to require his return to this 
country; in Bigelow's Works of Franklin, Vol. VH, p. 302, is 
Franklin's letter authorizing (under his power from Congress) 
Burke to negotiate the exchange of Burgoyne. The Robespierre 
letter is valuable on account of its rarity, — M.Bertin, a well-known 
authority, writes from Paris that only one letter of this period is 
known in France. 



Robespierre was admitted to the Bar in 1781 and argued the 
question of the legality of paratonnerres or lightning-rods, publish- 
ing a report (without his name), "Plaidoyers appelant d'un juge- 
ment des echevins de St. Omer, qui avait ordonne la destruction 
d'un paratonnerre leve sur sa maison" [Argument on appeal from 
the judgment of the sheriffs of St. Omer, who had ordered the 
destruction of a lightning-rod erected on his house], and this was 
translated into both English and German. Franklin no doubt 
annotated the copy sent to him for his corrections, and returned it. 
A copy of it would be an interesting addition to this collection. 
There are many interesting letters in this collection that are well 
worth reproducing as contributions to the contemporary history of 
Franklin's times. 

ROBESPIERRE TO FRANKLIN. 

Sir: — A judgment rendered by the echevins of St. Omer, 
prohibiting the use of lightning-rods, has afforded me the oppor- 
tunity of pleading before the Council of Artois the cause of a 
sublime discovery, for which humankind is indebted to you. The 
desire to aid in uprooting the prejudices opposed to its progress 
in our province, led me to have printed the argument which I 
made in this matter. I venture to hope. Sir, that you will deign 
to receive kindly a copy of this work, the object of which was to 
induce my fellow-citizens to accept one of your benefactions : 
happy to have been able to be of service to my region in determin- 
ing its highest magistrates to receive this important discovery, 
happier still if I can add to this advantage the honour of securing 
the patronage of a man whose least merit is to be the most illus- 
trious savant of the world. I have the honour to be with respect, 
Sir, 

Your very humble and very obedient servant, 

DE Robespierre, 
Advocate to the Council of Artois. 
Arras, i October, 1783. 

burke to franklin. 
Dear Sir, 

I feel, as an honest man & as a good citizen ought to feel, 
the Calamities of the present unhappy War. The only part, how- 
ever, of these Calamities which personally affects myself is, that 
I have been obliged to discontinue my intercourse with you. But 
that misfortune I must consider as equivalent to many. I may 
indeed with great truth assure you, that your friendship has 




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ROBESPIERRE'S LETTER TO FRANKLIN. 



always been an object of my ambition ; & that if an high & very 
sincere Esteem for your Talents and Virtues could give me a title 
to it, I am not wholly unworthy of that honour. 

I flatter myself, that your belief in the reality of these Senti- 
ments will excuse the Liberty I take of laying before you a matter, 
in which I have no small concern. The application I make 
originates wholly from myself, & has not been suggested to me by 
any person whatsoever. I have lately been informed with great 
certainty, & with no less surprise, that the Congress have made 
an application for the return of my friend Genl. Burgoine to 
captivity in America, at a time when the Exchange of almost all 
the rest of the convention officers has been compleated. It is 
true, that this requisition has been for the present withdrawn. 
But then it may be renewed at every Instant, and no arrangement 
has been made or proposed, which may prevent a thing on all 
accounts so very disagreeable as to see the most opposite Interests 
conspiring in the persecution of a man formed by the unparelleld 
Candour & moderation of his Mind to unite the most discordant 
parties in his favour. 

I own this proceeding of the Congress fills me with astonish- 
ment. I am persuaded that some unusually artful management 
or very unexampled delusion has operated to produce an effect 
which cannot be accounted for on any of the ordinary principles 
of Nature or of policy. 

I shall not enter into the particulars of the convention under 
which this claim is made ; nor into the construction of it ; nor the 
execution. I am not perhaps capable of doing Justice to the 
Merits of the Cause ; & if I were, I am not disposed to put them 
upon any ground of argument. Because, (whatever others might 
and possibly ought to do) I am not pleading a point of strict right, 
but appealing to your known principles of honour & generosity 
with the freedom & privileges of an old friendship. And as I 
suppose you perfectly acquainted with the whole History of the 
extraordinary treatment that Genl. Burgoine has met with, I am 
resolved not to shew so much distrust in so sound a Memory & 
so good a judgment as yours, as to attempt to report the one or 
to lead the other. 

I am ready to admit that Genl. Burgoine has been, & (as far 
as what is left him will suffer) is, a very affectionate servant of 
the Crown ; & that in America he acted as an officer of the King 
(so long as fortune favourd him) with great Abilities, & dis- 
tinguished fidelity, activity & spirit. You, My dear Sir, who have 



made such astonishing exertions in the Cause which you espouse, 
& are so deeply read in human Nature & in human morals, know 
better than any body, that men will, & that sometimes they are 
bound, to take very different Views & measures of their Duty 
from local & from professional situation ; & that we may all have 
equal merit in extremely different lines of Conduct. You know, 
Sir, that others may deserve the whole of your admiration in a 
Cause, in which your Judgment leads you to oppose them. But 
whatever our opinions may be on the origin of this fatal War, I 
assure you that Genl. Burgoine has the Merit of never having 
driven it on with Violence, or fostered & kept it alive by Evil 
Arts, or aggravated any of its natural Mischiefs by any unneces- 
sary rigours ; but has behaved in all occasions with that temper, 
which becomes a great Military Character, that loves nothing so 
much in the profession as the means it so frequently furnishes of 
generosity & humanity. 

You have heard of the sacrifices he has made to his nice 
sense of honour on this side of the Water — sacrifices, far above 
the just demands of the principles to which they were made. 
This has been of no advantage to the Country, where he was 
picqued to the resignation of so much rank & emollument, both so 
justly earned. Shall America too, call for sacrifices which are 
still more sever, & of full as little advantage to those who demand 
them ? I know the rigours of political necessity : But I see here 
as little of Necessity, or indeed of expedience, as of propriety. 
I know the respect which is due to all publick bodies : But none of 
them are exempt from Mistake, & the most disrespectful thing 
which can be done towards them, is to suppose them incapable of 
correcting an Errour. 

If I were not fully persuaded of your liberal & manly way of 
thinking, I should not presume, in the hostile situation in which 
I stand, to make an application to you. But in this piece of experi- 
mental Philosophy, I run no risque of offending you. I apply, 
not to the Ambassador of America, but to Doctor Franklin the 
Philosopher ; my friend, & the lover of his species. In that light, 
whatever colour politicks may take, I shall ever have the honour 
to be. 

Dear Sir 

Your most faithful 

& obedt. humble sert. 

Edm Burke 

Charles Street, 
August 15, 1 78 1. 



A PROPHECY FULFILLED. 

The Ingenhouse letter referred to above is one of the- most 
remarkable of the collection, especially remarkable for its proph- 
ecy of our eventual acquisition of the "sugar and indigo islands," 
Whether Maria Theresa of Austria's physician means Cuba and 
Porto Rico, or the Philippines, is perhaps doubtful, but in either 
case the prophecy is cause for marvel. We have not space to 
quote his letter, which is dated December 14, 1777, in full. This 
passage is the most interesting: 

"Now will Brittain be convinced (but perhaps too late) that 
America was not to be overawed by threats, nor overpowered by 
arms, and that it lost a much braver Nation than it did seem to 
consider it before {Nee hahet fortuna regressitm). 

"They will now, perhaps, acknowledging first that liberty and 
independency which America has wrested out of their hands, look 
out for their friendship and solicite them as their protectors 
instead of their subjects; even as the haughty Spanjars did with 
our ancestors. 

"If this is not the case, I fore see, that they will endeavor to 
make their contest looked upon as interesting whole Europe, as 
much as it does themselfs. The Americans will now not only 
become masters of that part of their continent, which is still 
feably kept in their weakened hands ; but they will soon set up 
as conquerors of the new world. They will subject not only to 
their own empire the Neighboring Empire of Mexico, the back 
settlements of the Spanjards, but they will soon look upon the 
sugar and indigo islands as a necessary acquisition for their well- 
fare, and drain, by a monopoly of those universally necessary 
commodities the most solid richess from the rest of the world. 
They will depopulate half Europe, from its inhabitans, who will 
crowd to that happy shore, where true liberty and a new welth 
unknown in Europe will attend them. They will soon invade 
the British dominions in the east and take to themself the immance 
richess which the English have derived from them, in short 
America will soon become the most powerfull nation, which ever 
existed upon the face of the earth, and will, as a second Rome, 
extend their dominion far out of their own country, and become 
arbiters of Europe itself, making it dependent of its will. This, 
I know particularly, will now be the language of Brittain, 
endeavoring to make a common cause of it. The Russians seem 
to keep back in this Sceme by a war, with which they are con- 
tinually threatened thro the measures of a nation, well known to 
you." 



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